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Sigma-X posted:how is 4.15 Pi Day. I'm dumb I don't know why I confused my dates re: Pi Day. My excuse was staring at the dates on my Gantt chart.
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Apr 10, 2012 03:24
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Mega Shark posted:I'm dumb I don't know why I confused my dates re: Pi Day. My excuse was staring at the dates on my Gantt chart. It's okay, schedule it for xx:31 4/15 and it'll be close enough. You'll just have exactly one minute to eat pie.
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Apr 10, 2012 03:35
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Mega Shark posted:I'm dumb I don't know why I confused my dates re: Pi Day. My excuse was staring at the dates on my Gantt chart. 
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Apr 10, 2012 04:20
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We at Ready at Dawn Studios celebrate the real Pie Day, not the imposter Pi Day. Proof of awesome pie eating and fake mean faces: I am fat and I am holding a pie. This picture is made slightly less awesome by my mohawk being covered by my hat. This picture is made slightly more awesome by my hat being a Tampa Bay Bucs hat.
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Apr 10, 2012 04:22
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I had some kind of pavlovian response to seeing the Register and just seething with hate for a second there. 
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Apr 10, 2012 07:04
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Sigma-X posted:My favorite interview question is, and always will be "what's the worst part about working at X?" because it gives you a ton of insight into whether or not you'll enjoy it there. Since I work almost exclusively in flash, I always find a similar question the most useful. "What's the worst problem you dealt with in flash" If it's not an immediate "I hate XXX, it took 2 weeks to work around because adobe is so incompetent that they can't fix YYY 2 years after it became a problem." It works from both sides, as an interviewer or as a applicant question to someone in the same department (like the engineer assisting the interview if you aren't let into the work area to talk to people).
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Apr 10, 2012 14:28
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GetWellGamers posted:I had some kind of pavlovian response to seeing the Register and just seething with hate for a second there. Scroll down, there's some pie that should take the edge off.
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Apr 10, 2012 14:28
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So, I've been out of the industry for almost a year now, and some sick, horrible part of me wants back in. In part I left becuase of the money, but mostly because the thought of working as QA any more filled me with dread. I'm now the QA manager for a mid-sized software development house, which is nice, but by god I'm finding it hard to be motivated by our products. How do-able would it be to transition into a producer role? I know it's almost certainly a step back in terms of seniority to get my foot back in the door, not to mention the pay it's going to cost, but by god I miss this horrible, wonderful industry.
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Apr 10, 2012 15:05
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Spuckuk posted:So, I've been out of the industry for almost a year now, and some sick, horrible part of me wants back in. Mega Shark posted:Just a heads up for those without Game Industry experience that we're looking for a Junior IT Support person and a Junior Producer.
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Apr 10, 2012 15:10
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I did see that, should really have mentioned I work/live in the UK, and for the immediate future it's not really possible for me to move outside the country. Shame too, exactly the sort of stuff I'd kill to work on.
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Apr 10, 2012 15:40
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Moving into a junior producer position from QA manager shouldn't be too hard, provided you can find openings and apply.
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Apr 10, 2012 15:58
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Sigma-X posted:Moving into a junior producer position from QA manager shouldn't be too hard, provided you can find openings and apply. The finding openings part is going to be pretty hard with the state of the UK industry.. Might be time to annoy the poo poo out of my contacts!
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Apr 10, 2012 17:44
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http://www.joystiq.com/2012/04/10/bleszinski-on-disc-dlc-an-unfortunate-necessity/ How accurate is this, people-who-actually-work-at-big-studios?
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Apr 10, 2012 17:48
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fookolt posted:How accurate is this, people-who-actually-work-at-big-studios? Quite necessary. There's a massive void between when your on-disc game is frozen and when it actually hits the shelves, and bandwidth is very expensive, and you want that time to be spent usefully. So you do your best to have any big assets you know you'll need on-disc before that. In the void, you can then do bandwidth-light changes, like debugging the content you rushed to get done, maybe updating a texture, probably finishing the code / script to actually finish that content, etc. EDIT: The other side is multiplayer content that not everyone owns. Everyone still has to download it to see it (fancy custom armor packs and weapons and such), but only a fraction of your users will actually own it. Making everyone download a giant day 1 patch just so the pre-order people can show off their gold weapons is Very Not Cool. When you gently caress that up, and you have to tell your producer that you've got to add a 100mb video to the day-one patch? The look you get will freeze your soul. EDIT: (Note, that actually happened on LEGO Universe, and the people involved were not happy. At all.) Shalinor fucked around with this message at 18:01 on Apr 10, 2012 |
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Apr 10, 2012 17:56
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Shalinor posted:Do I count since I did until last year? Thanks! That's what I've heard from game dev folks in real life, but I just wanted to get something more substantial in text. I hate watching gamers thrash around in angry ignorance with regards to game development
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Apr 10, 2012 17:59
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edit ^^^^^ Generally it's relatively harmless to let gamers get mad about video games. Hell, the angriest gamers are often the biggest consumers of content. Often the people spending the most money on DLC are those complaining about weird stuff like that in the first place.Spuckuk posted:So, I've been out of the industry for almost a year now, and some sick, horrible part of me wants back in. A lot of producers come from QA, so I imagine it's not a bad direction. I think there's a big overlap in what makes for strong QA, especially QA lead skills and production skills. Formerly QA producers are also generally a lot less biased in a lot of decisions than people who transition from design, programming, or art, which is great. It's far easier to transition from QA to producer within the same company, though.
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Apr 10, 2012 18:00
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fookolt posted:http://www.joystiq.com/2012/04/10/bleszinski-on-disc-dlc-an-unfortunate-necessity/ Which part? I see three statements: 1) There is a 3-4 month idle period (you have to submit for certification, the cert should be budgeted for a month, and you want to budget for two certs in case you fail the first. Additionally you have a pre-cert that you want to be mostly ready for. Once you're certified there are a few weeks of manufacturing/distribution, too). This is True 2) For compatibility reasons sometimes you need to put the DLC on the disk - in the case of alternate fighting game costumes, etc, you need to do this to handle the non-purchased player being able to see the mesh, since you transmit inputs or locations/actions, not colors and shapes. Additionally, and probably the most important part, if something is going to exist in always-loaded memory (think like enemy weapons that can theoretically drop at any time, like in Saints Row) you need to have it budgeted out ahead of time so putting it on the disc at that time is a moot point, it's giving you a more accurate memory footprint (so you can cram more poo poo in - every game on the 360/PS3 is incredibly memory constrained, you have less than 512MB for everything in the game, and art assets are expensive) and you are saving download time/bandwidth/etc as well - If you've got 300mb of extra space on the disk and the content is done you might as well put it on the disk. Designing a system that can have arbitrary things dumped into it is hard and requires exponentially more complex memory management. This is True 3) There is no difference between on-disc content and downloadable content. False - the customer perception issue is huge! But in terms of development, there isn't that much of a difference. A lot of that content (like the Mass Effect 3 guy) is going to be the same whether or not you download it - the difference being that by having the character and rig/animations on the disc, their character system doesn't need to be designed to have arbitrary #s of characters dumped in, and they can use those in the UI readily without re-writing the UI each time they have a new character. For that scenario they still had you downloading about 700mb of mission (level assets, scripting, NPCs, etc) It should be noted that on-disc content doesn't mean "complete." An easy analogy is that the on-disc content is like a box of puppets and maybe even a script - it's a bunch of stuff to put on a show, but it's not quite the show itself, and there is an additional step, code-wise, required to turn it into a show. Finally, with a lot of DLC, the code to actually run the DLC gets pushed out in a Title Update, which is a 4mb (no more) patch for the game .exe. Before a new DLC comes out/when it comes out, you'll see a title update come through, and the actual DLC download itself will be additional content/assets and an unlock that authorizes the DLC bit stuck in the patch.
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Apr 10, 2012 18:04
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Chainclaw posted:edit ^^^^^ Generally it's relatively harmless to let gamers get mad about video games. Hell, the angriest gamers are often the biggest consumers of content. Often the people spending the most money on DLC are those complaining about weird stuff like that in the first place. You're totally right but I guess it's hard for me to let go of my belief of informed consumption
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Apr 10, 2012 18:04
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Shalinor posted:Do I count since I did until last year? Agreed. I wonder how much of the issue is the name "downloadable content." If we call it premium content, would players get so upset? In some ways it reminds me about outcries over crippling processors to sell them cheaper. In the history of CPUs, some processors were created at full strength because it was cheaper to manufacture them that way, then crippled so that they could be sold as a lower-tier item. Some people are willing to pay more, but you have to have entry-level content to ensure you can capture an optimal share of the market. On-disc DLC and crippled processors are both variations on the same concept of consumer stratification that has been historic to product marketing. It shares the strain logic behind a bottle of coke costing $5 at a movie theater behind the ticket collector, and $1 at a vending machine outside- value is relative to the context of the product. As long as some people will be willing to pay more, you cater to all strata to ensure that consumer can pay to their satisfaction. Part of the problem, which CliffyB hinted at, is that the current method of DLC is a half step in our industry's transtion from AAA games as product to games as a service. iOS and Browser games get away with this because everything is locked up on a server to begin with.
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Apr 10, 2012 18:12
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fookolt posted:You're totally right but I guess it's hard for me to let go of my belief of informed consumption Generally people who actually care and want more information will seek it out, like you did by popping into this thread asking about it. Once a message goes out, even if it's entirely untrue, it's tough to change its direction. This happens in games all the time, but I can't think of a specific example right now. Look at the Netflix SOPA rumor for the other day. Taking a few minutes to dig a little deeper, and it looks like it's not true, but many people will only read headlines / the latest discussion.
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Apr 10, 2012 18:14
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Hey all, I'm a game dev (senior technical artist). I've got a site to mention: Game Mentor Online (not my site) The program overview is: quote:Program Overview So, if you're a dev, you can sign up and help out some aspiring devs, and if you're a student or newcomer to the industry, you can find someone awesome like me to give you advice :P Tip: if you sign up and get assigned a mentor, do not immediately start flooding them with questions about whether their specific studio is hiring, would they hire you, do they know anyone who would hire you, would they still hire you if you are a convicted felon and in a halfway house, etc. (though actually I did ask and my company does not automatically exclude felons, except for maybe jobs like legal or finance)
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Apr 10, 2012 18:16
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That site sounds awesome and I will definitely sign up once I'm settled in California next week because I do a fair amount of mentoring folks as it is.
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Apr 10, 2012 18:23
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Thanks for the really informative posts, y'all! Sigma, where ya going in Cali? If you're in LA, I'm sure we can meet up and do something tragically goony.
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Apr 10, 2012 18:25
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Etheldreda posted:Hey all, I'm a game dev (senior technical artist). I've got a site to mention: Game Mentor Online (not my site) What's your experience been like as a mentor? It sounds like a really awesome concept. I'm a senior artist and enjoy helping out graduating students, though I'm usually pretty limited on time and graduated not long ago, myself (coming up on 3 years, I'm 25) and don't always feel particularly qualified to be giving out advice to newbies.
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Apr 10, 2012 18:25
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Carfax Report posted:Agreed. If it was called premium content I would be all over that poo poo. "Downloadable content" when an amount of it is on disc, comes across as disingenuous. Premium content gives the impression that I'm paying more for something, well, more. It's like it's saying "hey, you're a cool guy with extra cash, here's a special thing just for you." Not literally, of course, but it certainly brands itself better than "downloadable content."
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Apr 10, 2012 18:28
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Frown Town posted:What's your experience been like as a mentor? I am still not sure if I'm a particularly good mentor, because I tell my proteges to feel free to ask me anything, show me work, etc. and they mostly don't. The site suggests that I set goals for the proteges, with deadlines and all, but I want the proteges to have their own goals and not have me become some sort of homework assigner person. I've only worked with artists so I will generally look at their portfolios and/or ask collegues to look at their portfolios (for example, I can't really judge a concept art portfolio) and offer advice about resumes, sites to look at, "go to GDC if you can", etc. I had one protege request to continue with me after the mentoring period was done, so I guess I'm not too terrible!
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Apr 10, 2012 18:34
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Etheldreda posted:Hey all, I'm a game dev (senior technical artist). I've got a site to mention: Game Mentor Online (not my site) That does look interesting. What's it offer for someone in a position like mine: not a beginner, but not experienced enough to be comfortable mentoring?
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Apr 10, 2012 18:38
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Bongo Bill posted:That does look interesting. What's it offer for someone in a position like mine: not a beginner, but not experienced enough to be comfortable mentoring? Hmm, I'm not sure! The program administrator is very nice, so you could possibly contact her and ask her if the program would offer anything for someone in your situation.
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Apr 10, 2012 19:06
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fookolt posted:http://www.joystiq.com/2012/04/10/bleszinski-on-disc-dlc-an-unfortunate-necessity/ Another thing not discussed is there's been a decent amount of research that seems to indicate that you lose a ton of DLC potential buyers if you don't release within the first 2 weeks-month after ship when people are still playing regularly. Between compatibility issues in multiplayer, cert times, and that, there's a lot of reasons to build on-disc DLC/Day 1 DLC despite the rage of the internet. It's certainly an interesting look into consumer psychology.. as we move towards digital distribution I'm curious to see what happens regarding this. World of Warcraft has been selling "premium" content developed with subscriber dollars for years and it gets gobbled up and nobody's boycotting over it.
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Apr 10, 2012 19:06
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fookolt posted:Thanks for the really informative posts, y'all! Moving out to Irvine to work with Megashark at Ready At Dawn.
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Apr 10, 2012 19:08
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Every time I see someone mention being constrained to 512 MB, I shake my head, haha. You start next week Sigma-X?
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Apr 10, 2012 19:09
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Video processing and uploading has never taken so long. I am near to shouting at the stupid little progress bar. GO FASTER YOU, I WANT TO SHARE YOU WITH THE WORLD.
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Apr 10, 2012 19:11
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Sigma-X posted:Moving out to Irvine to work with Megashark at Ready At Dawn. Edit: I'm dumb, congratulations!  Best of luck to you. Make sure to hit up Beer Wednesdays at the Auld Dubliner with the rest of the OC Devs. GetWellGamers fucked around with this message at 20:29 on Apr 10, 2012 |
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Apr 10, 2012 19:15
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Nice thread! I also work in games - I'm CEO at Fireteam.net, and before that I was Studio Director at Splash Damage. I'm still heavily involved with Splash Damage's games, but the new thing is all about building network services for games on mobile & console. I'm happy to talk about running a dev studio from business/operations/production perspective, so ask away. Spuckuk - I'm looking for a Producer, take a look at the website and drop me a mail if you're interested. We're in Bromley (South London)
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Apr 10, 2012 19:39
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GetWellGamers posted:Well that answers that... Different position, homeslice, don't fret yet.
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Apr 10, 2012 20:17
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GetWellGamers posted:Well that answers that... I'm going to be their Art Producer, so I think you're still good brooooo But yeah I want to hit up beer wednesdays for sure - after living in a corn town where the next developer is three hours north I'm really stoked about having other developers in the area to beer with and learn from. Splat posted:Every time I see someone mention being constrained to 512 MB, I shake my head, haha. Yup. And yeah, being constrained to 512MB sucks. Especially because you run into further issues with cross-platform development because the OS on each system eats some of that, with PS3 previously eating 80 and now eating 40, or something like that (I know it was halved), and the 360 eating something like 20mb. Then you have the PS3 having a split memory architecture so that is really 256/256 spread across CPU/GPU, whereas the 360 is unified...you can see why most cross platform games have higher rez textures on 360. Also this is why your 360/PS3 (less so on the PS3, but still on the PS3) are thrashing constantly - because the solution around this is to stream poo poo on and off the disk.
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Apr 10, 2012 20:24
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Sigma-X posted:And yeah, being constrained to 512MB sucks. Especially because you run into further issues with cross-platform development because the OS on each system eats some of that, with PS3 previously eating 80 and now eating 40, or something like that (I know it was halved), and the 360 eating something like 20mb. Then you have the PS3 having a split memory architecture so that is really 256/256 spread across CPU/GPU, whereas the 360 is unified...you can see why most cross platform games have higher rez textures on 360. Er, I meant we put GoW into 24MB. 512MB would be panacea! Went you get down to having to figure out how to shrink code size, you know you have a problem
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Apr 10, 2012 20:33
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Sigma-X posted:But yeah I want to hit up beer wednesdays for sure - after living in a corn town where the next developer is three hours north I'm really stoked about having other developers in the area to beer with and learn from. Hell yeah. I'm a regular, just look for the only dude with my avatar on his shirt and I'll introduce you to the key players. Just remember the two important rules: 1) Friends first, business second. 2) Amber is the patron saint of beer night and what she says goes. Skeeve on her and you'll likely be thrown out of beer night. Like, bodily. Over a fence. Try and drag some of your co-workers along, too. We only get the RAD guys once ina blue moon and you're right there on the 405! No excuse. 
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Apr 10, 2012 20:34
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Oh, and to actually contribute, there's a great articles on Gamasutra about how to not annoy people with your press releases. PRobably worth reading for the indie types who have to do all their own PR themselves.
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Apr 10, 2012 20:36
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Splat posted:Er, I meant we put GoW into 24MB. 512MB would be panacea! Went you get down to having to figure out how to shrink code size, you know you have a problem memory is like beer, you can never have enough and you'll consume it all. e: and the artists are hogging it
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Apr 10, 2012 20:40
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